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Download and Isle Of Wight kick-off festival season 2011

See The Darkness, Iggy Pop, SOAD, Mr Big, Pulp and more

This past weekend ushered in the beginning of 2011's festival season proper, with two of the UK's biggest shindigs - Download and Isle Of Wight - simultaneously rocking Donington Park and IOW's Seaclose Park respectively.

Alongside Download's headliners Def Leppard, System Of A Down and Linkin Park, it is the triumphant return of The Darkness's original line-up which has stolen the most column inches today. The boys are very much back where they belong, it seems.

And next to Isle Of Wight's big hitters Kings Of Leon, Foo Fighters and Kasabian, we've uncovered a few live gems on YouTube from the likes of Iggy And The Stooges and Pulp.

In fact, such is the immediacy of this digital age, performances from pretty much every stage - be it ripped from the telly or fan-filmed - can, of course, be watched at your leisure. Check out a few of our aforementioned top picks above and below, and see MusicRadar's summer festival guide 2011 for more diary dates.